Washington Wizards: 3 potential Monte Morris trades
By Cem Yolbulan
The Washington Wizards’ attempt at reshaping the roster for their rebuilding process is in full swing. After trading away Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, we are likely to see more deals where the Wizards send their veteran players who don’t fit their timeline. One of the next dominoes to fall will almost certainly be Monte Morris.
The 27-year-old point guard spent the last season as the starter with the Wizards after mostly being the backup with the Denver Nuggets. Monte Morris, who started 61 of 62 games in the 2022-23 season, averaged 10.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in 27 minutes per game in Washington.
Morris is not an elite point guard in any one area. He can do most things well or at an above-average level but he is not going to set the world on fire with his scoring, playmaking, or defense.
His efficiency of 58% true shooting is exactly league-average. His three-point accuracy of 39% for his career is pretty good, but he has low volume and versatility on his jump shot. He is one of the best in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, which demonstrates his style of play perfectly: he makes very few mistakes and is a good floor general.
As valuable as Morris is as a player, he is redundant on this Wizards roster. He is a very similar player to Tyus Jones, who the Wizards just acquired. Washington is likely to give Jordan Poole, Deni Avdija, and Bilal Coulibaly on-ball reps as the lead guards as well, making it hard for Morris to have a role on the team.
This opens up Morris for a variety of trade scenarios. Morris has one year remaining on his contract worth $9.8 million for next season. As his ideal role is the backup point guard on a good team, he is properly paid, making a potential trade involving him relatively easy.
Morris should generate interest around the league among teams looking for a point guard. According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, the Washington Wizards already started calling teams who may want to acquire Morris. Let’s take a look at who some of these teams may be.